The history of a country can be written in many ways and for many reasons; ere is a history of the southern island written to show that a poverty-stricken, backward country can pull itself up by its own bootstraps and head towards an era of advancement. The facts seem accurate and are pigeon-holed under many subtitles within chapters. The author begins his story with discovery in 1493, but skips many events and gives most of his time to a discussion of Puerto Rico in the 20th century. The choppy, only slightly varied sentences do not form a very readable book; its st obvious use is as a reference or supplementary volume for study of our Latin erritory.